COL (RET) Lee Cole Smith, Jr.

Searcy Funeral Home and Crematory, 1301 Neal Metcalf Road, Enterprise, AL 36330

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Posted by: MikeThompson
[email protected]
334-393-2273 or 334-347-2517
Date: Jan 22 2022 3:00 PM

COL (RET) Lee Cole Smith, Jr. of Dothan, AL (formerly of Enterprise, AL) passed away Friday, January 21, 2022.  He was 85. 

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM, Friday, January 28, 2022 at Searcy Funeral Home and Crematory Chapel with Rev. Kyle Gatlin officiating.  Burial with military honors will follow in Meadowlawn Cemetery with Searcy Funeral Home and Crematory directing.  The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Thursday, January 27, 2022 from 5:00 until 7:00 PM.  Memorials may be made to the Wounded Warrior Retreat at Lake Tholocco, on Fort Rucker.  Checks can be made payable to: Enterprise Lions Club Foundation, ATTN: Chuck Seitz, PO Box 0598, Enterprise, AL 36331.  Include in the memo line of the check, “in memory of COL Lee Smith, Jr”. 

Lee was an active member of the Lions Club and the Enterprise YMCA Board of Directors where he was a leading supporter of the Soccer Program and was instrumental in the growth of soccer in Enterprise.  He was also involved in the Dothan soccer program where he coached 3 of his grandsons.  While in Enterprise, he and his wife Sissy and their family were active members of St. Luke United Methodist Church. After moving to Dothan, they became members of Covenant United Methodist Church.  They were also active members of the Boll Weevil Travel Club and enjoyed the many trips they took.  Lee and Sissy would have celebrated their 53^rd wedding anniversary on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. 

Colonel Smith retired from the US Army after 26 years of service.  He served two tours in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and flew over 3,000 hours earning him the Distinguished Flying Cross.  He earned his BA at Wofford College and his MBA at the University Of Missouri-Kansas City.  He also graduated from the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL and the Command General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. 

He was preceded in death by his mother and father, Eloise Smith and Lee C. Smith, Sr. 

Survivors include his wife, Lillian “Sissy” Smith, Dothan, AL; daughter, Missy Smith Sexton (Marvin), Dothan, AL; 2 sons, Lee Cole Smith III (Laura), Palos Verdes, CA, Douglas Stewart Smith (Joy), Birmingham, AL; 4 grandchildren, Jackson Cole Smith, Los Angeles, CA, Walker Lee Sexton, Dothan, AL, Gregory Talbot Sexton, Dothan, AL, Douglas  Hurley Smith, Birmingham, AL; sister, Gwen Smythe (Xan), Columbia, SC; a niece and several nephews, great nieces, great nephews and cousins in Columbia, SC also survive. 

You may sign the register book or send condolences to the family at our website:   www.searcyfuneralhome.com .

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